How to Deal with Rental Arrears as a Landlord in the UK?

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The increasing cost of living in the UK has been a critical issue for landlords and tenants. The tenants may also face some personal financial situations like sudden medical bills and may not be able to pay their rents. Such rental arrears can also lead the landlords to fall into arrears themselves like mortgage payments debt.

In the UK, dealing with non-payment of rent can be time-consuming and stressful drawback for landlords. To avoid the stress of rental arrears and property management, you may contact City Borough Housing in the Blackfriars, London, for your south london rent guarantee services for regular monthly rental income and property management services across London, Kent, and Surrey.

As a landlord, you must have better knowledge of legal process and your legal rights to retrieve rental arrears from your tenants, which can be a daunting and complex task otherwise.

Here are some steps to tackle your property related problems.

1. Maintain a record of rent payments for evidences

It is a good idea to keep sufficient record of paid and unpaid rent with proper dated receipts for each month. You will need to produce all rental payment transactions during eviction proceedings. Keep a track record of both when the rental payments are due and when they are paid and send a copy to your tenants.

2. Talk to your tenants

If your tenants have not paid their rent, you must meet them in the same month to discuss the matter without waiting for them to get around. Tenants may have short-term or long-term financial issues that may affect their cash flow. You can explore other financial sources together to cover unpaid rents or mutually agree for early eviction to resolve the rental arrears.

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3. Send a letter to your tenant and guarantor

If your tenant’s are not responding your calls and are uncommunicative and defensive to talk, you must send a formal written rent demand letter ideally by hand-delivered letter or email. You must include the deadline to pay unpaid rents and corresponding actions in your letter or email. This will avoid legal hassles if your tenant claims that you have harassed them.

In case your tenants do not respond after 14 days, you should write to their guarantors mentioned in the tenancy agreement to explain the situation. They can pay you to cover the tenant’s rental arrears as per their legal agreement with the landlord.

4. Use landlord insurance to cover for unpaid rent

You can claim your landlord insurance policy to cover your loss of monthly rents and the costs involved in evicting a tenant. Such insurance policies are made to ensure your financial safety and security during huge and growing tenant’s rental arrears.

5. Claim possession of your property

In case any of the negotiations do not work, you may take legal actions to claim your rents and other court fees from your tenant and retrieve the possession of your property. Under the Housing Act 1988, there are two legal ways, a Section 8 or a Section 21 notice, for landlords to evicting tenants with rental arrears.